Lunchbox Love

Making food fun encourages children to eat more and not only can you put some excitement into dinners, you can do the same with their lunchboxes too.

This cute beach themed lunch box I made has starfish shaped sandwiches made from a cookie cutter, cheese as the sand for the Mini Mes to put in the sandwiches, some hot dog sausages as octopus and rice coloured blue as the sea with a bit of salad too.

Halloween was the ideal excuse to create a spooky themed lunch. Coffin shaped sandwiches, white chocolate coated strawberry ghosts and a few extras thrown in too.

Variation
If you don't have the time to decorate sandwiches with smiley faces or slice things into animal shapes varying the contents of their lunchbox will keep them interested. Instead of a ham roll daily offer tubs of salad, pasta, cous cous or rice, change the fillings and instead of bread use rolls, tortillas and pittas.

I give the Mini Mes two fruit each day in their lunchboxes but that varies from an apple and box of raisins to strawberries, grapes, pear, satsumas etc. The same goes with the rest, different flavour yogurts, different cakes and bakes will all make meal time more fun and help to prevent them bringing it all home uneaten.


Do you make food fun for your kids?
What do you pack in your child's lunch box?

Salmon and gnocchi bake

This has become a firm favourite for the Mr and I. It's rich in flavour and filling plus we both love eating fish.

Ingredients

Serves 2/3

500g gnocchi
2 salmon fillets, diced
1 tbsp tomato puree
200g Philadelphia/soft cheese
Chilli powder (I add 1 heaped teaspoon but you can add more or less to suit your taste)
Handful of chopped parsley
Squeeze of lemon
Grated cheese for on top


Method

• Preheat the oven to 180 degrees
• Bring a pan of water to boil and add the gnocchi. Cook for a few minutes (it raises to the surface when done)
• In a seperate pan add the tomato puree, soft cheese and chilli. Warm gently
• Add the gnocchi, approx 100ml of the boiled water and the salmon. Stir.
• Add the lemon and parsely then remove from the heat. Pour into an ovenproof dish, sprinkle on cheese and bake for around 20 minutes until the cheese is browning nicely.
• Scoff!

You could have a serving by itself, enjoy it with some fresh warm bread or it would go lovely with a salad. It's also quite versatile as you can add a few of your fav veg in with it too (I recommend broccoli or leek!).

Scones - Savoury and Sweet

We like to have scones as an alternative to sandwiches for lunch or as a dessert with cream and jam - yummy! This is a basic recipe that you can have either savoury or sweet. They don't take long to make either so are perfect for a last minute picnic or party.

Ingredients

8oz self raising flour
2oz butter
150ml milk
2oz cheese/sugar

Method

• Preheat the oven to around 180 degrees.
• Combine the flour and butter in a bowl and add the milk gradually to form a dough.You can add the sugar OR cheese too here.
• Split the dough into 8 balls and place on a lightly greased baking tray.
• Pop in the oven for about 20 minutes until the scones are browned lightly.
• Scoff!

Meal Planning Monday

This weeks meals weren't really planned! I wasn't feeling that well yesterday (find out why here) so the Mr popped to Tesco to do the food shop and he decided while he was in there what we would be eating for the week, as he chucked bits into the trolley. I had hoped to cook some Slimming World recipes to shed a few pounds but that will have to wait til next week now.

Monday: Sausage Pasta Bake (heading out just after dinner so something super quick).

Tuesday: Fajitas

Wednesday: Curry

Thursday: Pizza and salad

Friday: Fish, veg and new potatoes

Saturday we are off to a wedding so we will be eating there *prays she will catch the bouquet* and Sunday we are off to the zoo so a picnic will be on the agenda.

What have you got planned for the week?

You can read some more planners or link up with At Home With Mrs M.

Silent Sunday